Obama grants himself lifetime Secret Service protection

1/10/13 1:19 PM EST

President Obama on Thursday signed a bill granting him -- along with George W. Bush and future ex-presidents -- lifetime Secret Service protection, reversing a 1990s law that limited post-presidency security.

The Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012 restores lifetime protection for presidents and spouses who served after Jan. 1, 1997, and gives the children of former presidents protection until age 16.

The existing law, passed by Congress in 1994, ended protection for former presidents a decade after leaving office. But members of Congress and law enforcement officials had since come to see lifetime protection as more necessary as global threats have grown.